New Habitat for Humanity Restore under construction

Discount shoppers will soon have a new home improvement store. Construction is underway on the new Habitat for Humanity Restore on Grape Road in Mishawaka.

The Restore will be at the old Frank’s Nursery and Crafts location near the corner of Grape and Douglas.

Restore’s sell donated home improvement products at discount prices. Some items are second hand and some are just bulk that retailers weren’t able to sell. The slow economy drove folks to the local Restores in search of bargains and now business is still booming.

“ [I] can’t wait!” laughed Liz Ullery, a regular Restore shopper.

Habitat for Humanity Restore is just months away from opening their new site on Grape Road in And regulars like Ullery are counting down the days.

“Because it’ll be closer!” said Ullery with another giggle of excitement. “It was fun when this one opened. I used to go to the one on Sample Street. So, I’m a long termer.This is my project store.”

Just two years ago, Habitat for Humanity built a new store on Main Street in South Bend to gain more retail space and customer parking and now Restore is seeing the same demands in Mishawaka.

“The home owners are still watching the dollars they spend but they’re becoming more and more aware that they can come to the facility of the Restore and find the item they’re looking for,” explained Brian Oletti, the Director of Restore Operations. “[The items] may be slightly used but at a much lower reduced price.”

Those lower prices are about 70% less than most commercial stores.

“They’re not our competitors because we turn around and Habitat for Humanity goes out and spends those hundreds of thousands of dollars on the building materials to build the homes for those who are less fortunate,” explained Oletti. “So, it has this circle of life type benefits for the community.”

And for Ullery, the benefits include a location closer to home and the new store will be--

“Much bigger! It will be big fun!”

Because the store is bigger, Restore will be adding a few part time positions. Oletti told us he’s looking for about 10 to 15 new employees.